@marykarrlit Boy, I’m stumped on that one. I don’t like to think it’s true, and there’s an element of palpable bitchery there, but… — Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 3, 2014

King’s mentions immediately filled with responses from users angry that the author would use the words “palpable bitchery” to describe someone who may have been sexually abused as a child. User Steffi Bendi commented, “So a victim of child abuse has to be nice and polite about it now?”

Greytdog added, “wow you really can be an a**hole,” and user Connie added, “Ummmmm. Please retract of I’ll have to cancel my book preorder. Or is that bitchy something or other …”

Later, King posted more tweets, explaining that he “probably used the wrong word” when talking about the alleged sexual abuse Farrow suffered.

Have no opinion on the accusations; hope they’re not true. Probably used the wrong word.

For her part, Mary Karlitt also tried to defend Stephen King, explaining that King “is no misogynist” and “140 characters catches us all.” Kings comments came one day after Dylan’s brother, Ronan Farrow, tweeted his support of his sister after her open letter was published over the weekend. For his part, Woody Allen and his lawyer have denied the accusations.